Grenade Hurts 3 in Tripoli after Jabal Mohsen Man Shot

Unknown assailants on Thursday shot and wounded a young man who hails from the Tripoli neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, as three other people were injured in a grenade attack.

“A young Alawite man was shot and wounded on Tripoli's Syria Street” in the Bab al-Tabbaneh district, LBCI television reported.

OTV identified the man as Khodr Abbas, saying he was transferred to al-Saydeh Hospital in Zgharta for treatment.

Later on Thursday, state-run National News Agency said "an unidentified assailant hurled a hand grenade near the Barrad al-Bissar area in (Tripoli's) al-Zahriyeh, wounding two army soldiers and a civilian man."

Several media outlets said gunfire was heard after the explosion of the grenade.

More than 20 attacks have targeted Jabal Mohsen residents in several areas of Tripoli in recent months.

On December 11, two young men who hail from Jabal Mohsen were shot and wounded in the city.

A similar assault earlier this month sparked a new round of deadly gunbattles between Jabal Mohsen and the rival Sunni neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh.

Tensions between the neighboring areas date back to Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war but have been exacerbated by the conflict across the border in Syria, where Alawite President Bashar Assad is battling a Sunni-led uprising.

The unrest worsened when twin bombings rocked two Sunni mosques in the city, leaving around 45 people dead and 500 others wounded. Several suspects from Jabal Mohsen have been accused of involvement in the bombings.

An international human rights organization has urged Lebanon to rein in sectarian tensions that have been on the rise in Tripoli.

Human Rights Watch has said that authorities should better protect minority Alawites — members of an offshoot Shiite sect — who are increasingly coming under attack by Sunnis in Tripoli.

The New York-based watchdog said Alawites in Tripoli's Jabal Mohsen have been beaten and stabbed, and the whole community has endured gunbattles and mortar attacks over the past year.

“Lebanese authorities should take all feasible steps to protect Tripoli residents by confiscating weapons that have been used to kill residents such as mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, and automatic weapons, arresting and prosecuting gunmen, and maintaining an active security presence in all communities,” HRW said.